The Political Hat

     A commenter over at the Ace of Spade HQ, Serena, posted a response she received to the question “How does being a billionaire ‘harm society’?“

     Below is a copy of that response interleaved with some comments:

“Another great question. Billionaires (even the ones who just have money sitting there, and “earned” it legally) harm society because they create something very dangerous for economies – inequality. Most of the world has too little, billionaires have too much. That kills jobs and shifts the executive/social/political power to cater to a powerful class of individuals that got there not just with hard work, but unfortunately, often by chance, and with lots and lots of greed. “

     Ah, the great boogie-man of the Progressive Left: “Inequality.”  It is never stated why some people having more wealth than others is somehow necessarily bad.  The response seems to suggest that “[m]uch of the world has too little” because those icky billionaires hoarded it all in their three cubic acre moneybins.

     This ignores the fact that wealth is not a zero sum game.  Wealth is created, and some will create or accumulate more than others.  Someone having a lot of wealth does not preclude others creating wealth for themselves, and almost invariably, for others as well.

Continue reading →